Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis says the just-ended Turkish Women’s Cup was an invaluable experience as they prepare for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.
Desiree Ellis picked a number of lessons in the matches they played against Slovenia and Uzbekistan.
The highly-rated coach believes the lessons picked from the tourney will help her oil the team in time to compete in the global showpiece.
HOW BANYANA FARED IN THE TOURNEY
They beat Slovenia 3-0 before settling for a 1-1 draw with Uzbekistan, in what was a clear wake-up call for them to step preparations.
“The tournament was invaluable for us because we needed the preparations because there are only two FIFA dates, and this was very important.
“I think we started very well against Uzbekistan. We could have finished them off with a lot more goals.
“We made changes, and obviously, the intensity went down a bit, but we consider that we had very little time with the team.
“The second game, we needed to make more changes, with players being in different times. Hildah [Magaia] is still in pre-season, and Linda [Motlhalo] has played two games in the season.
“So we need to consider all that. When we made changes, the intensity and character that they were shown is evident that the team has grown tremendously.
WHAT ELLIS LEARNT FROM THE BRAZIL ENCOUNTER
Ellis added that their encounter with Brazil last year was an eye-opener.
“We needed to look at everyone and at the same time get a result. I thought in the first half against Slovenia. We could have sealed the game.
“The mere fact of the way we came back. A lot of lessons were learnt from Brazil. We were a little bit better on the ball. We still give the ball away, but the intensity is better and high.
“The interaction and passing were better, our transitions were better, and we were organised defensively. Those are some of the things we learnt from the Brazil game,” she said.
However, Banyana Banyana’s conversion rate remains Ellis’ cause for concern as they prepare to collide with tough opponents.
“What hurts us is not taking our chances. It’s an area that we are going to work on. We have challenged the players to look at the goalkeepers they play against,” she added.
“Their strengths and weaknesses and make sure they know the best place to put the ball. We will be engaging a lot of countries. At the moment, we are yet to get a response. We know a bit of Sweden. We have played them so many times. They still have the same coach.
“They are a little better in terms of transitions because of new players coming in. We have played them so we know. We already a huge analysis on them and that changes everytime we play them if there are changes.”
WHAT GIVES THE HIGHLY-RATED COACH CONFIDENCE
What perhaps gives her confidence is the extensive research they have done on their opponents.
Banyana Banyana were drawn into Group G alongside Sweden, Argentina and Italy.
“We have a lot of footage on Italy. We have some in Argentina. They play this weekend, so we do have information about them. But it’s all about the first game, so a lot of our training now might not be evident in the way we play.
“It’s all geared on the first match and how we want to specifically apply ourselves. We are also looking at having local players because with all due respect, some of them in the Hollywood Bets don’t give that creativity, some of them don’t give you that competitiveness.”
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